


My Ship is Burning

by Cosplayplush



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-28
Updated: 2019-01-28
Packaged: 2019-10-18 05:59:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17575172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cosplayplush/pseuds/Cosplayplush
Summary: What is a massive sailing vessel perched on a ruined skyscraper if not a hallucination? It's a brief moment of fun and happiness till it all comes to a traumatizing end for Lee. The captain going down with his ship is just an pre-war myth, right?A one shot story of the the USS Constitution Mission going horribly wrong.





	My Ship is Burning

"...You know, I always thought I hallucinated this thing."

The historical wreckage sat nestled in the upper portion of Weatherby and Savings Bank. The name scrawled in faded gilding 'U.S.S Constitution' on the the bow of the ship. The same lettering and name flaked off the back like a poorly selected tattoo in a drunken stupor. The hull shedding bits of wood in threatening gust of wind. Ships such as this one were never noted to have rocket engines anchored to either side.

"Ol' got hips that don't lie." Lee chuckled, pointing out the modern tech on the antique. "Honestly I can't rule out either of us hallucinating this one." She elbowed Hancock, offered tin of orange mentats balanced between fingers.

Hancock took the chems with a smirk. "My temptress knows how to treat a man."

"Man?" Lee hefted her scoped rifle from the ground, ready to greet any raiders. "I didn't want a 'man'. I'm a raisins kind of girl. A real...sundried...snack."

"Burnt more like it." Hancock shook his head, popping a few tablets back.

"CITIZEN!" A familiar mechanical voice boomed from behind them. "Scanning!"

Hancock and Lee whipped around to be confronted with a Mr. Handy running a illuminated grid up and down Lee. The ghoul made a foul scowl at the robot, clicking his tongue in annoyance.

"You scanning anything more than clothes and I'll have you for a new claymore." Hancock threatened.

"Congratulations citizen, you have been conscripted into the congressional army!" The Mr. Handy ignored Hancock's threats. "Captain Ironsides demands your presence aboard the USS Constitution. On the double!"

Lee and Hancock traded puzzled expressions. The redeemed merc quickly weighed her options, rifle slowly drifting toward the robot. Hancock quietly let out a sharp short whistle and nodded up toward the deck of the ship. Several canons lined the railing, all trained down on the pair. Lee sounded a pop, eyebrows raising as she looked down at the rubble. Kill one strange robot only to be showered with cannonballs or follow the madness onward, or at least till out of the line of sight of the canons. Hancock brought his shotgun close as Lee's rifle did the same. They picked their way up the compacted debris and into the former lobby of the bank the ship rested on.

The closer they got to the ship above, the shockingly better condition the ship looked to be in. Once close enough to touch the land bound vessel, Lee could spot parts of protectrons and Mr. Handys having been use in place of proper parts. Springs stretched to bind metal to wood. Blow torch attachments speared through in place of nails. There was something unsettling about it all. The Mr. Handy that had recruited them hovered at the end of a hallway, turning to gesture to a small hatch in the hull. Lee let it drop open, her rifle poking through before herself.

"Just the tip?" Hancock darkly muttered in her ear. "You weren't so timid last night."

The snort was unavoidable, nor was the finger-less gloved hand that 'whapped' loudly across Hancock's face. "John, not now!" Lee exclaimed, a blush and wide grin opposing each other for the truth. "Later." The smile won out.

Lee dragged herself up through the constricting hatch and into the bowels of the ship. Hancock grunted through his entrance only to stand up and nearly fall back through the hole. Lee hadn't stepped forward. The deck was littered with Mr. Handys, some protectrons and many turrets from stern to bow. Lee glanced around, mouth slightly hanging open as she moved out of Hancock's way. The pieces of robots were more noticeable from the inside of the ship.

"If I'm tripping, this is pretty tame. If I'm dreaming, shouldn't you be naked?" Hancock pointed out as he took in the same sight.

Lee quietly laughed, shaking her head. "Jury is still out on the first bit, we're both dressed, so this isn't a dream."

"You dream about me naked?" Hancock smirked out of sight of the merc.

Lee leveled a deadpan face at the ghoul. "We're married."

"Still cute." He shrugged.

The couple of decks they had to pass through to get onto the main deck were much the same, save for the thinning out of repurposed robot parts turned repairs. A police protectron stood in the pairs way. He shifted to remain so when they attempted to go around him.

"Move?" Lee grumbled.

"Intruder..." The protectron straightened up.

"FIRST MATE!" A new metal voice filled the ship's innards. "They are guest, stand down!" It sounded more amused than angry.

"...Intruder..." The first mate stressed the word, taking a step toward Lee.

Lee pulled her pistol free and pointed it for the critical parts stored in the headcase. "Modded, tank rounds. Just try it gramophone..."

"FIRST MATE!" A boisterous laugh accompanied the name. "Stand down this instant!"

There was a hesitation from the protectron before it shuddered through some steps backward. "...standing...down." If Lee hadn't known better she would have said it spoke and did as commanded begrudgingly.

"Here I was hoping to get parts for the coffee maker back home." Hancock's shoulders dramatically sank back. "I'll never get my java fix again at this rate."

"John..." Lee sighed, pinching her nose bridge. "Babe, I love you but groan about that coffee machine again and i'm going to feed you a bag of beans and pour a hot kettle down your throat for a chaser."

The ghoul laughed shoving past the first mate with Lee. "You think that would work?"

"You're going to find out soon you keep it up, Jerky Stick." Lee happily sighed, shielding her eyes from the sunlight blast the main deck.

"Love it when you talk dirty."

The deck was lined with canons, all functioning from what Lee could tell. There was a denser collection of robots on the main deck than there was in the lower levels. Lee and Hancock were given a wide berth up till an age sentry rushed up to them. An antique cocked hat was fixed to the top of the sentry's 'head'. His voice was no quieter standing in person than over the ship's jerry-rigged PA system.

"WELCOME aboard the USS Constitution, the jewel of the Congressional Army!" Ironsides blasted the air with his greeting. "You are just in time." He wheeled side to side a moment, a deep whirling sound rattling from within. "Or are you late?"

"Neither." Hancock answered first.

Lee swung her hip the short distance against the side of Hancock's. "What is a boat doing up here and being ran by robots?" She cut right to the point.

"ABSURD!" Another blast. "This fine vessel has been accosted by the unyielding and devilish dervish of the land and kept us from making berth into the bay."

"..."

"POX ON YOU WEATHERBY AND SAVINGS!" Ironsides shook a rail gun arm in the air, he made a sound as if he was clearing his throat. "This accursed structure is the reason the Congressional Army has need of you civilian."

Shotgun and rifle slouched in their master's grips. Lee turned to speak against Hancock's cheek. "John...honey, my sweet darlin' love of my life. Did you buy that jet from a new dealer or something."

"Starting to wish I had, least I'd have an explanation for this." Hancock whispered back. The ghoul raised his head up a bit. "I'll bite, what do you want from us?"

"I NEED..." Ironside's voice snapped off at the sound of a bell ringing frantically. "Come civilian, your first task, help us defend the deck!"

Hancock caught sight of humans running between covers, bullets zipping by the edge of the railings. "I ain't gunning down humans for a pack of shorted out robots."

Ironside's wheels spun him around with alarming speed for a sentry of his size. "Oh ho, what is this? Are you a spy?" A gatling arm poised dead center of Hancock's face. The gears faintly beginning to spin in anticipation.

The ghoul quickly pleaded with the universe to have a bullet graze him or Lee. Any reason to settle his morals and not eat a sentry's bullet spraying appendage. A near silent slash of air barely nudged the mayor's hat. "I'm good, they shot at me." He and Lee took cover at the thickest and most covered portion of railing.

Several well placed shots settled the assault in a matter of moments. Lee was dangerous in close quarters, she was an aspect of death itself at a distance. Hancock called out targets between ducking and handing his wife ammunition. The humans retreated as quickly as they had appeared. Lee and Hancock rolled to sit with their backs against the wooden frames. At the side of Lee sat a small clay pot. The ghoul grabbed it up and turned it over in his hands. A dead fern slumped in the soil, dirt tumbled a bit out. Tape and glue had been use to pull the pieces together and among the cracks Hancock could make a single word.

"Ernie?" He cocked a confused look at Lee. "The fuck is this weirdness?"

Lee looked at the dead potted plant. "A twisted cosmic joke, chuck it."

Ernie the dead fern was tossed carelessly over the edge. Air pockets in the soil and the missing pieces of pot gave the plant a plaintiff whistle through the air. A distance shatter as it met the street below. Lee and Hancock were again approached with Ironsides. He nearly deafened them with his explanation of what they needed and meant to accomplish. Parts for the rockets to propell the ship into the bay a few blocks away. Lee had little choice aside agreeing, neither ghoul or merc were fond of gatlings at any distance in their direction. At the bottom of the building they stopped to exchange a shared pack of cigarettes.

"The hell did we walk into here?" Lee groaned.

"That bullet that put a new chip in my hat takes out any chance of this being a bad trip. We walked back into reality." Hancock matched her groan, back thudding against the crumbling wall aside them.

A voice sounded for the two. Hancock looked over to the see the source, it was one of the fish in a barrel from earlier. He cautiously waved for Hancock and Lee to come over to them. Merc and ghoul needed to make contact with these humans anyhow, the ship's captain claimed they had stolen some essential parts to the rocket in one of their latest raids. Hancock nudged Lee and started walking, Lee step behind him. They were led around an alley nearby that opened up to a blasted out old diner. People milled around enraptured with various task. One even fixated on simply staring at a blank wall with a look of a man who had seen far too much in his life. To himself, Hancock chalked it up to chems more so than trauma. Life was enough of a stressor, but it didn't often leave people cow-eyed at walls, chems did though, Hancock had observed many walls in his day. Even once a atomically blasted rubber duck in a bath. That staring contest only ended when Lee returned from a job two days later.

A greying woman stepped up and curtly explained their side of the standoff with the ship. They wanted the parts squandered away inside to sell for caps. Hungry mouths to feed and all. Lee nodded, there was a real threat humans faced and it greatly out weighed the plight of a ship needed to blast off a bank roof. Still, she liked and was amused by Ironsides and the whole circumstances of the ship.

"Lee," Hancock's voice came level and devoid of snark or humor. "These people need food and we can help them."

The merc pulled Hancock from the collection nearby. "I know, but how do we know we won't end up with another Covenant town issue?"

"Oh you mean where you went rooting in a trashcan and the people took it personally." Hancock snorted out a single chuckle. "An entire little town gunned down after trying to pry an later discovered stimpack out of your delicate, supple magical fingers?"

"Did you have to make that weird?" Lee tried not to laugh too loudly. She didn't need emulate her ex enough to the point these people might peg the merc and ghoul as mad killers. "Yes, something like that."

Hancock shrugged. "We don't know but I'd still rather risk that then help some robots with a pirates of the Caribbean dream that literally achieves nothing."

"Look at you, shooting down the dreams of the downtrodden robots." Lee mocked playfully.

"I'll apologize to Valentine when we stop by the office next time." Hancock gave her a mischievous smile.

"In your birthday suit with a musical number." Lee nodded patting his shoulder, placing a gentle kiss on his neck. It was what she could immediately reach, the bastard was still taller than her.

"And fireworks." Hancock ran a hand through the hair that covered half of her head. He turned back the elder woman. "Alright, you got help. What exactly do you want done?"

There was the sound of thick plastic being violently bashed against metal when Lee pushed the no longer functioning industrial freezer door open. In the depth of the plainly shaped room sat a dark haired lean man smacking a electronic board against a metal work table. Lee cleared her throat loudly. The electronic went flying in surprised jerk reaction. The man rotated his stool around to meet the ghoul and merc's gaze. He was all muscle honed for speed, tresses of unkempt dark brown hair and blood red power armor inspired armor plated his legs and feet. A miniature electromagnet rail gun laid on the table near him.

"...Dante?" Lee spoke to confirm the man's assumed name when he said nothing first. "The lady out front sent us back here for the control board of rockets."

A smile erupted on his face. "If there is another Dante in this world, let me know. I need to kill them, there can only be one."

Hancock's chuckle bobbed his head in time. "Ruthless, I like him."

"Keep talking pretty zombie king." Dante winked at Hancock. The ghoul was speechless behind a untampered smirk. "You guys are the ones crazy enough to fuck up captain neverland's day?"

"I like him." Lee agreed shouldering her rifle and walking in the freezer fully. "Do you need anything or are we good to go?"

Dante roughly dragged another green, gold and black electronic board off the table. He offered it to them with a roll of his wrist. "Even if I did, I promise I'd get it faster than you guys would."

"Man about speed?" Hancock spread a dark smirk across his face. "Doesn't that disappoint the ladies?"

"Bold of you to assume so. But I have never heard a chap in chaps complain." Dante's grin was equally dark. "Between assassin talking frogs and angry dogs with six eyes, I'd say I'm uncontested."

Lee snorted water into her nose barely lowering her canteen before it spilled back inside. "Wow....okay yes." She coughed her lungs clear. "You looking for work or you good hanging out in a diner?"

"Just passing through, kid." Dante saluted them before turning back to his work. "Toodles children, good luck storming the dingy."

The return to the ship was simple enough. Hancock and Lee showed no signs of their encroaching betrayal. The tampered electronic boards provided by Dante forced Lee's bag to swing slightly at her side. It scrapped in a way that reminded the merc of a cornered animal. These people they had now set out to help were very much cornered and at their wits end. The ship was a true treasure trove of valuable gear and tech that any vendor would sell their families for. Even the snobbish Brotherhood of Steel would happy drop vertibirds on this ship for a chance what was inside. Lee couldn't help but wonder if Maxson would trade his coat for everything inside. The current tenants of the ship were about to be violently evicted, little else mattered at the moment. Dante had caught them for a final warning, once the rockets were activated, they would explode. No ticking clocks or dramatic pause. Simply flip and boom, both rockets. It would undoubtedly set all the robots on Hancock and Lee. They double checked all their gear before climbing aboard. Ironsides welcomed them with an expected blaring greeting. Hancock and Lee nodded and quickly went to work. 

The last board was connected, Lee stopped to stare at the trap for a moment. "That's the last one." She said, solemn and quiet.

"Problem, Sunshine?" Hancock noted the change in his wife.

Lee let out a deep sigh. "No, nothing's wrong. Connected just fine and it'll work just as that guy said. It's just, I'm worried about the consequences. What if the ship falls apart and lands on top of the diner. All this work for what then?"

Hancock slung his shotgun and squatted down to Lee. Rugged hands scooped up her chin pulling her into a deep, warm and rough kiss. He parted with a smile. "Sunshine, you think too much sometime." He gently brushed her cheek with a thumb before standing again. "Let's get this party started and head back for drinks. I have been saving a bottle of Nuka Dark for a special occasion."

"What can be more special than this adventure?" Lee smiled, Hancock always knew exactly what to tell her to make her feel better.

"This job and a bag full of whipped cream cans?" Hancock joked ahead of her.

They reported their success to Ironsides and intent to disembark the ship. The robot shuddered a moment and gave his approval. The pair turned to leave when metal delicately clacked into place. Lee barely turned to see the first mate with motorized hand on a toggle switch flipped before the first tremor rocked through the ship. The ship pitched hard to one side and then the other with the other rockets first explosion. Hancock wrapped his body over Lee, the declaration of them being traitors was barely overheard over the ships sirens on the PA. The crouched couple suddenly became the center of hostile attentions on the ship. 

Hancock managed a crippling shot at one of Ironside's leg joints. The sentry buckled a moment before resuming a mechanical grace allotted to robots. The livid captain came barreling at them, unable to stop as he rammed full speed through the ornate wooden ships railing.

"A POX ON THE RED COAT!!! SCURVY TRAITORS!!" Ironside was heard bellowing in a loop as he crashed into the side of a nearby building.

The rockets exploded again at the same time. The stern of the ship erupted in splinters of wood and metal shrapnel. Lee shouted in anger and frustration as Hancock kept her pinned. Fire twisted blades of scrap metal slashed at the few exposed bit of Lee beneath her husband. Hancock yowled once over her, the cause obscure to Lee. He stood suddenly yanking Lee to her feet as the ship thrashed again, jerk into a short drop downward. Lee and Hancock locked eyes for a moment, escape first and bitch later was the mutual thought passed between them.

Lee snatched hold of the ropes dangling off the cracking main mast. She gripped Hancock tight, scraping her rifle to the betrayal of gravity and the floor that was once beneath them. Hancock frantically looked everywhere for a means of salvation. He spied one swiftly falling out of reach. Lee did the same but could do little as earth's pull and Hancock slowly forced her shoulder to tear apart. There wasn't much time and it looked like their adventure was about to come up short.

"LEE!"

Hancock took hold of the tail of the rope the merc dangled them from. He traded roles with her. Smoke wafted up from the planks, fire embers nipping at both their faces. Lee snapped her face up to Hancock, he was smiling at her. That same smile he had the day she told him she loved him. The same smile he had when she woke up next to him every morning. She violently shock her head against whatever damn fool idea he had. He released the rope and sent them plummeting to the rails of the tipped ship.

Lee was clutched in Hancock's arms, his whole body wrapped around her. His voice still faint among the continued explosions. "Lee, I got a plan." He looked over to the life boat that was being used as an elevator, it was swinging freely by a single rope just a foot from them.

"Jump in and hug the seat and don't you fucking let go." Hancock ordered his wife.

Lee shock her just as hard before. "Fuck you no! I am not leaving you."

"You stubborn bitch I am not leaving you!" Hancock yelled back trying to shove her into the jump.

The boat and Lee clashed together with a painful thud. The ship crashed through another several floors of the bank building. Hancock moved to put himself over the little life raft, he double checked it against the odds he saw. It was padded and in far better shape than the ship itself. The rope dangling free was sweeping on the ground below them.

Lee waved for Hancock to jump. "Hurry it up!" She looked terrified and he loved her all the more in that moment than he ever had.

"Give me that rope, we need to..." Hancock was cut off by the ship sinking violently again. He wrapped his free arm around his side, it came back to grab the requested rope end tossed up.

"John...?" Lee watched as Hancock tied a sailors knot around the rails. A bloody hand working around the coils. "John your arm...John!" Lee was beginning to see Hancock wasn't telling her the truth. "Don't you lie to me John Hancock!" Smoke blasted her from the ship, forcing her to instinctualy shield herself in the life raft. She immediately looked back up at Hancock.

Hat off in a bloody hand and held over his chest. "I love you Sunshine. I let good people die before, I ain't letting death have you."

"You fucker don't you dare!" Lee screamed trying to crawl up the boat and rope. The Constitution rocked again to knock her back down. The image of Hancock's hat hurtling down into the bank beneath them. "JOHN!"

"My turn, sister." John smirked, "I'm going sailing, I'll let you know what's across the sea." He pulled the single piece of wood holding the life raft in place and curve itself into the safety of the bank ruins.

The U.S.S Constitution collapsed, capsizing in midair to land face down on it's main deck. The mass and final explosion driving it into the subway below. Smoke and fire consumed the sight of the disaster. Lee scrambled with a gashed leg out from the boat to be faced with Hancock's hat perched upside down on a gravel pile in front of her. A final salute to his wife she was unwilling to accept. Lee's screams overtook the sounds of the wreckage. There were no survivors of the diner, the only sign of survivors was untouched freezer and a path through the ship shrapnel and bloody boot prints walking into the commonwealth.


End file.
